The Al Johnson Performing Songwriter Contest seeks a Top 10 to compete for a $1,000 grand prize, two days of recording at Audio Dallas Recording Studio and travel allowance. The second place prize is $500 cash and the Michael Terry People’s Choice Award is also $500 cash. This award-winning contest is accepting only 300 submissions that must be received by March 1, 2019.

I am not sure! It’s a comment I received from music industry critic Robert Oermann on my project, “The Freedom EP.” The full quote:

“She has a very cool Appalachian vocal style. The upbeat tune is produced perfectly with plenty of open spaces between the fiddle, dobro and steel line. The accomplished singing is as impressive as the fact that she wrote or co-wrote all of the EP’s fine songs.”

This guy can be brutally honest and I wait with bated breath each time I know he’ll be reviewing my work. Read More

“Music is something that has always been there,” says John Carroll. His mother is a church pianist, his father a drummer. When he was five years old John started piano lessons. But John says it wasn’t until high school that he took up the guitar and everything changed. Music became his platform of expression and gave John an identity.

“When I want to grapple with an idea or even just to write a fun story, music is my language.” – John Carroll

Folk ballads are a great way to tell a story and Angela Easterling takes this craft to a new level with her angelic voice. Bluegrass and country were all around, but Angela didn’t listen to it while growing up because she preferred story telling musical theatre. It wasn’t until she was older that Angela started listening to other types of musicians such as folk singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris. The Grammy winning vocalist inspired Angela to follow and appreciate other great singers like Neil Young, The Byrds, Pete Seeger, and Joni Mitchell.

Angela was raised in the South Carolina foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Much of her childhood was spent on a farm that has been in her family for seven generations since 1791. She embraces her heritage in a big way as a writer and an artist on her debut album, “Earning Her Wings.”

The title song for her second album, BlackTop Road, tells of her family’s struggle to hold onto their farmland in the face of development and represents a new step in her singer-songwriter career. Angela’s music has been featured in commercials for Southwestern Bell and several of her songs were used in the series “Horsepower” on Animal Planet.

Seldom do you come across a young woman with a voice mature enough to sing jazz and blues like the greats. Lola Toben is a rare gem. Her rich vocals and lyrics are clearly influenced by her childhood favorites, Aretha Franklin, Carole King, the Moody Blues, Elton John and Billy Joel.

Toben is a composer, pianist, songwriter, singer, and music teacher. She also contributes to studio projects as a vocalist or musician. When asked about her favorite of these vocations, Lola says she loves performing best because of the connection she experiences with the audience. She says you just don’t get that in the studio. Read More

Originally from Nebraska, California transplant Brad Colerick brings the art of storytelling, to the roots based Americana genre, with an enthusiasm that gets you out of your seat and tapping your toes to the beat. His love for songwriting and performing inspired his founding of the popular Wine & Song event he calls “a midweek spirit-lifting hootenanny.” This weekly session brings artists together for a fun night of music and is something you absolutely must check out next time you’re in the Los Angeles area.